Six days ago.

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"She's a mudblood, Harry. I have every right!"

"She's a human being!" Harry cried in response to Daphne's racist declaration.

What followed then was probably the biggest argument he ever had with anybody, including his clash with Dumbledore after Sirius' death. Back then, he just wanted to vent his anger and grief and the old headmaster was the obvious target. In hindsight, it must have looked and sounded more like a temper tantrum on his part as there was really nothing for him to accomplish. After all, Dumbledore could not bring his godfather back.

Harry felt the situation was very different now as this time, there was a clear goal and logic to his arguments. And he was certain he was right – altering someone's magic without their consent was extremely offensive. To him, it was patently obvious and simple.

But much to his frustration, Daphne did not appear to see that at all! According to her, Hermione's muggleborn status, coupled with the fact she was a prisoner, gave Daphne complete right to make decisions for the girl. And apparently there was no need for Hermione to agree or even be informed because she was not fit to decide for herself, whatever the hell that meant.

Now what do you say to something like that?

For most of the time, Harry adored Daphne's presence but in moments like this, he had no idea how to show the pureblood girl how utterly wrong she was and he wondered whether there was even a point. Was Daphne just an evil woman who will never be convinced either way? Harry refused to believe that. Perhaps it made him a fool but in his heart, he knew there was good in her. So he just continued to protest and state his arguments, hoping to convince her, while Daphne did the same, nobody willing to concede from their respective positions.

The worst was that Daphne looked almost bored by their conversation as she calmly sat on the couch. She felt just as certain of her position as Harry did. After a while, Harry felt like he was talking to a wall and as his frustration grew, he started pacing angrily across the room. Only when their argument devolved into a shouting match did Daphne finally stand up too and showed some emotion. "Enough! You want to know what gives me the right?!" the pureblood girl snapped and when Harry said yes she stomped over to her table and gestured to the guest chair. "Sit down, Harry... now!" the blonde said imperiously.

She and Harry fought a silent battle of wills for a while. It finally ended when the girl said, "Will you just sit down, for Merlin's sake?" She then paused and raised an eyebrow. "Or do I have to tie you down again?" she asked with cocky smile.

The snarky remark 'I'd like to see you try' almost made it to Harry's lips before it was replaced with the idea of Daphne tying him down. That mental image took the snark out of him completely and made him wonder whether he would really like to see her do just that. Before his thoughts went even more into places he did not want them to right now, Harry decided to just do as she asked and he reluctantly sat down in the chair. He then watched as Daphne walked over and sat down regally on the other side of the table.

The girl propped her head with her hands, studying him closely from across the table. Finally, she said, "Harry, what would you do if you saw a child running around with a knife?"

"W-what?" Harry asked in confusion, worried that Daphne was just trying to change the topic. "What's that got to do anything?"

"Bear with me," Daphne asked him. "You see a child with a sharp knife, running around and playing with it like it's a toy... what do you do?" she reiterated insistently.

Harry took a deep calming breath, deciding to indulge her for the moment. "I take the knife away from the child," he told her the obvious answer.

Daphne smiled and nodded. "Of course you do," she said approvingly before adding. "But what if you couldn't simply take the knife away? Let's say it was permanently attached to the child's hand. What would you do then?"

Harry thought about the strange scenario for a moment before answering, "In that case, I suppose I would have no choice but to watch the child all the time."

"To make sure they did not hurt themselves or anyone else?" Daphne asked and Harry nodded. "But that would get tedious really fast and pretty much ruin your life, wouldn't it?" she asked challengingly. "You wouldn't be able to do anything but watch the child. Isn't there another choice?"

"Why don't you tell me," Harry shot back, not really enjoying Daphne's parable anymore.

The blonde leaned back in her seat as she answered. "You could tie the child up. Or, you know... cut off their arm," she said and before Harry could protest the fact she would even suggest such a thing, Daphne added the last part, "However, the best and most moral thing to do would be to simply teach the child how to use the knife."

"That doesn't seem safe," Harry reacted, not liking the idea of a young child with knife let alone teaching them how to use it.

Daphne nodded. "True. In an ideal world it would be safest to just take it away from them until they are older. But since you can't do that, wouldn't it make sense to teach them how to use the knife safely? Perhaps even how to do something useful with it? Even if it takes a very long time given their youth?"

"I guess," Harry finally admitted after a moment of silence. "But I still don't see why you are telling me this."

"I am getting to it, I promise," Daphne assured him before saying the final bit. "Now considering all the answers you just gave me, let me ask you this... what gives you the right?!" she said rather forcefully and before Harry could ask what she meant, she rapidly shot more questions at him.

"What gives you the right to take the knife away? What gives you the right to teach the child anything? What makes you think you know better what to do with the knife than the child does? What right do you have to control the child's life like that?!"

There was a fire in Daphne's eyes as she spoke that surprised Harry given how disinterested she appeared during their entire argument earlier. It was like his earlier passionate attitude finally transferred over to her but he did not understand why that was, especially since the answer to her questions was so simple and obvious.

"What do you mean? I am an adult, I know better!" he said defensively before he slowly started to realize where Daphne was going with this all along. Before he could open his mouth to protest, she capitalized on his answer.

"Yes... you know better and so the child just has to accept your decision," Daphne paraphrased and smirked victoriously. "And that's exactly what gives me the right, Harry! Why I don't need or care about Granger's permission to do what I do with her. I know better and so she has to accept my decision anyway!"

Harry gaped at her twisted logic even while the pureblood girl pinned him with her gaze and her trademark self-satisfied smirk. "You can't be serious," he finally told her. "Hermione has the same education we do. She is qualified to decide or we are not either. Besides, she's not a child, she's actually a couple of months older."

The blonde kept smirking victoriously. "When it comes to magic, that's exactly what she is! Compared to you or me, she might as well be a child playing with a knife. And she's halfblind even as she does it!"

"You're wrong," Harry insisted. "She knows more about magic than I do!" He stopped himself from saying 'you' because it would piss Daphne off but also because he no longer believed that was the truth. If nothing else, during his stay in the Greengrass manor, the pureblood girl managed to convince him she knew more about magic than Hermione did. However, although that could not be denied by him, having more knowledge was a far cry from claiming his friend was incapable of deciding for herself.

Daphne drummed on the table with the long painted nail of her finger. "I am still not getting through to you, am I?" she complained and sighed before saying, "Long time ago our ancestors had a similar discussion when they first encountered magical souls born in muggle bodies... the mudbloods," she said with distaste before continuing. "Obviously, there was much debate and argument about how to handle this discovery."

"The first thing they agreed on was that it was not possible to simply ignore their existence. Even though a lot of wizards and witches would have preferred that as they did not wish to have anything to do with the muggles."

"Why couldn't they ignore them?" Harry wondered out loud. In his experience, the magical world liked to bury its head in the sand. It was like its first emergency response to any crisis.

"It was too risky," Daphne answered, looking down on the table as she spoke. "Without awareness or any control over their powers, it was only a matter of time before one of them caused a disaster by mistake... perhaps even destroy the world!" she declared before adding. "And yet they also could not accept mudbloods without reservation. With no magic in their body, not only did they feel like muggles to the others, they also tended to think like them and had difficulty adapting. The magical society seemed wrong and twisted to the ancient mudbloods just as the mudbloods seemed wrong and twisted to the magical society," Daphne told him before lifting her head, her blue eyes meeting his. "And as you can see with Granger, this problem still exists... even today," she added sadly.

"Look. I acknowledge that Hermione wasn't born with magic in her body," Harry said in conciliatory tone. "I really do. But given all that she accomplished, don't you think by now she already proved she can handle magic and the magical world just fine? She is both smart and powerful."

"But that makes it even worse, don't you see?!" Daphne countered. "Yes, she's smart and powerful, I never denied that. No. The issue is that because there is no magic in her body, she and any other mudblood lack any kind of instinct when it comes to magic."

"So what if she doesn't have instincts? She has her brain and heart to rely on!" he replied passionately, defending his friend. "I think she can manage. She did fine so far."

Daphne chuckled at that. "Really? That ridiculous nonsense about freeing house elves was her doing fine?" she said before adding mockingly. "I would hate to see her doing poorly then."

"You know what I mean," Harry said and frowned. "Besides, it's not her fault. She just assumed all of them were exploited like Dobby."

"What did your instinct tell you?" Daphne suddenly asked.

"Excuse me?"

"What did your instinct tell you when Granger first began talking about the house elf rights?" she clarified.

Harry was silent for a while before saying quietly, "It told me the house elves were happy with how things were."

"Of course it did," Daphne responded at his admission. "Even though you did not ask them, your instinct helped you reach the correct conclusion. Too many of our choices are being governed by our instincts, Harry, and the structure of our society reflects that."

Harry looked up at her and slowly nodded, not really able to argue with that. After all, wasn't his entire relationship with Daphne based on his instincts? Harry felt like he could trust her... wanted to trust her... and so he did. Despite the girl's actions giving him every reason not to. But every time he looked at Daphne Greengrass, he felt his instincts telling him strongly that the girl was somehow very important... that she was his best hope. For what, he was not sure, but that's what he felt.

Daphne continued. "When one does not have the corresponding instincts, the society norms will always feel wrong to them. Like the magical world feels to her. Oh, if you could only see the horrible things she planned to do after she became Minister of Magic," she said sarcastically and leaned back again in her chair. "So you see Harry, it's in the interest of everyone that a mudblood has magic in her body – theirs and the society's. Even if Granger happens to disagree, I still have the right to make it happen. Her consent is irrelevant when the benefit is so great... when it could save her life one day."

Harry shook his head, feeling his firm position being gradually but inevitably undermined by Daphne's words. "Save her life one day? Really?" he asked in disbelief.

The blonde smirked and said. "Let's say I place two rings in front of you right now and tell you to pick one up. Both rings are completely identical except there is a deadly curse placed on one of them that kills you if you touch it."

Harry had no trouble imagining that, having his share of experiences with cursed jewelry. He was amazed people in magical world still wore it, given the danger.

"Now, even without magic sight, there is a very low chance a pureblood or halfblood would ever touch the cursed one. Even dumbasses like Crabbe and Goyle would grab the safe one and call it a dumb luck," Daphne told him. "The reason is that magic in our body acts together with our survival instinct, directing us away from an obvious magical danger, especially if we knew beforehand one of them was cursed," the girl said before pausing.

"Now imagine I placed the rings in front of Granger and told her to pick one," Daphne said. "Without any magical instinct, her choice would be totally random. She would have one in two chance of dying right there!" Daphne declared before her eyes pinned him down again. "So are you really going to tell me she has a right to refuse me when I want to make sure nothing like this can happen? When I can give her a greater understanding and control of her magic?"

Harry slumped in the chair, feeling defeated by Daphne's last argument. It was hard for him to argue because he himself felt it was better for Hermione to have magic in her body.

And not just to avoid the scenarios Daphne mentioned. It was also about him... his selfish desire not to feel disgusted anymore by simply looking at his best friend. When he saw the small trickles of magic becoming a part of her, it was one of the best sights he has ever seen. How could he insist it was wrong for Daphne to force this on Hermione when he instinctively felt like it was the best thing in the world? That she was correct in doing so?

He was so immersed in his thoughts he entirely missed Daphne standing up and walking over to the liquor cabinet to pour them drinks. He only noticed when she walked over to him, handing him a glass of whiskey. "Thanks..." he said breathlessly as he received it from her, their hands brushing briefly. Daphne merely smiled. "You looked like you could use it."

Harry chuckled at the understatement. "You have no idea," he said before taking a big gulp of the drink. Meanwhile Daphne did not walk back to her chair but instead sat on the edge of the table next to Harry. They stayed like that for a while.

"Let's say you are correct," Harry finally broke the silence even as Daphne sat on his side of the table, sipping her drink. "What I still don't understand is why you can't just explain all of this to Hermione? Why do you have to go behind her back? Why humiliate her so much? I mean I am sure she would understand all this if you just bothered to explain it to her!"

The blonde kept swinging her legs from the table's edge as she considered his question for a few seconds. Finally, she said, "Yes, if I explained the process of transferring magic... I imagine Granger might actually agree to serve me willingly... just so she could get the magic into her body."

"Exactly!"

"But that's just it, Harry," Daphne responded. She stopped swinging her legs and sat the glass down on the table heavily. "If I did it like that, it would be useless!"

"W-what?"

Daphne shook her head in disbelief as she looked at him with a deep frown. "If it was possible to do it like that, don't you think I would have done it by now? Or do you really think I take joy in humiliating her?!"

Harry looked at her carefully. "Well, don't you?" he asked sheepishly.

Daphne opened her mouth like she was going to immediately say no but then she closed it again, along with her eyes. "Maybe I do... just a little bit," she reluctantly admitted. "After how she insulted me and my family... after learning she was going to ruin my world with her stupid ideas... it feels good to clip her wings, so to speak."

Daphne then opened her eyes and looked down from the table at Harry. "But I would far more prefer not having to bother with her at all. The only reason I still do is because of you. I gave her another chance because it's what you wanted."

Harry nodded in gratitude. He knew very well that his understanding with Daphne was the only thing that prevented the pureblood girl from getting rid of his friend as she originally planned. He did not want to go there at all and so he made a small joke to banish the uneasy feeling. "Well, I still think you'll like her when you get to know each other better."

The girl stiffened for just a moment before she smiled weakly. "I wouldn't go that far," Daphne said and took a small sip of her drink. "However, I actually think you were right. She really does deserve another chance."

Harry could hardly believe that. "Y-you're serious?"

Daphne nodded solemnly. "Yes... after talking to her, I believe there is a hope for her yet. In any case, she deserves a second chance," she told him before looking at him with a disappointed expression. "That's why I am so hurt you would automatically assume I am tormenting and humiliating her for my sick fun," she accused him.

"Daphne... I didn't say that," Harry said gently. He touched her knee with hand but she threw it off angrily. "No, but it's what you thought, isn't it? Obviously I must be one big nasty manipulative bitch," she said sarcastically while pinning him with her gaze.

Harry knew she was hurt but he didn't know what to say to make it better. So he went with the first thing that came to his mind. He leaned closer to her, caressed her thigh, saying "Maybe... but I still like you."

The angry girl stared at him, so frozen in shock she did not even shook off his hand this time. And then she started laughing and Harry felt like everything was right in the world again. Daphne lifted her foot and used it to gently push him back into his seat. "Don't think flattery will get you out of the doghouse, Potter," she told him off but she did it with a smile this time.

Present

Harry jerked as he emerged out of his memories of his conversation with Daphne. He realized Sue Li was saying something to him and he focused his attention on her.

"Besides... there are so many advantages in serving House Greengrass that go beyond my blood status," Sue told him with a smile. "First of all, I have the best job in the world," she said and gestured at the vast number of books surrounding them.

"You are a librarian," Harry said hesitantly. It's not like it was something to scoff at but to Harry it hardly seemed like a dream job. Madam Pince and her permanently unpleasant demeanour immediately came to his mind and he honestly hoped Sue was not going to end up like that.

"A librarian, yes. To one of the oldest magical families in the world, Harry," Sue stressed. "It involves much more then just shuffling books around. My main job is to read and familiarize myself with this library's content as much as possible," she explained.

"To what end?"

"So that I can provide advice and assistance to my lady whenever she asks for it," Sue answered automatically. "Answers to so many problems are in this library and it is my job to know where to look for them. I actually get to read books for living!" she said cheerfully, like a typical Ravenclaw.

Harry smiled at her enthusiasm. "I think Hermione would have loved job like that," he casually mentioned. He then watched as Sue's cheerful expression dropped and he wondered what he said wrong.

"You realize she was actually meant to have my job?" Sue asked unhappily. "Had your friend agreed to Daphne's offer back in our third year, then I would not be here now."

"I didn't know that," Harry admitted and asked. "Did Daphne tell you that?" He could not believe she would be cruel enough to make Sue feel like a substitute.

"No, but I talked with the other servants," Sue admitted before shaking her head and cheering up again. "It does not matter. Hermione said no. I am so glad she did. Or I wouldn't have got the chance to do my magical research either."

"Research?" Harry asked with surprise before glancing at the six open books that she has been reading before taking a break and walking over to his table. Sue nodded. "Besides serving Daphne, I also work on my own magical research," she declared proudly.

Harry was impressed, knowing that his mother was also a magical researcher. Something he only learned about from Daphne of all people. Harry was used to everybody knowing more about his parents than he did but it felt perhaps strangest when coming from the Greengrass heiress. Especially since, despite being a staunch supporter of pureblood supremacy, Daphne still seemed to respect the accomplishments of his muggleborn mother. The girl continued to be a puzzle to him that Harry could not resist wanting to solve.

"Is that what you were working on before?" he asked and followed Sue when she stood up and gestured him over to her table.

"Yes... this is my project," Sue said as she pointed to her scribbled notes which made absolutely no sense to Harry. "I am trying to learn why muggleborns exist."

"Isn't that already known?" Harry asked, remembering Daphne's explanation about a magical soul in a non-magical body. He repeated it to Sue who nodded. "Yes, that is correct. However, nobody knows why a magical element is suddenly incorporated into previously non-magical souls. For example, why do I have magic but none of my siblings do? What made me worthy but not them?"

Harry thought that was interesting and asked, "And did you learn the reason?"

"Yes... no... maybe..." Sue rapidly changed her answer before apologizing, "Sorry, it's sort of complicated. Let me take it from the start," she said and the two of them sat around the table with her research. "First problem is that nobody knows for certain when muggleborns first started to appear which I find very strange."

"Why? It was probably so long ago that no records of it survive," Harry retorted, trying to remember if Daphne ever told him something about that but he was coming up blank.

Before Sue could answer his comment, they were both interrupted by the approach of two other people. 'Speaking of muggleborns apppearing,' Harry thought as the person walking in the front was the one he has been thinking about a lot that afternoon.

Hermione Granger and the ever present guard who shadowed her every step walked right towards them. Hermione stopped in front of their table and gave them a stiff bow, her eyes rapidly flicking between Sue and Harry, obviously surprised by finding them together.

"I am here for my reading," she said, her eyes settling on Sue for the moment.

Sue nodded, barely glancing at her before pointing to one of the study alcoves. "Good. Your daily reading is ready over there. You have three hours... get to work," she ordered.

Hermione nodded. She then shared one last desperate look with Harry before she turned around and walked towards her alcove. The entire time she walked, Harry looked at her with shame and regret, right until she sat down and became hidden from their sight by one of the shelves.

"I hate this... I fucking hate this so much..." he said and sighed afterwards. "It's for her own good," Sue responded and shrugged. Harry nodded. "I know it is." After his talk with Daphne, he was finally forced to accept that but it did not make it any easier for him.

Six days ago

"So why can't you just explain to her what you are doing? Why all the humiliation?" Harry demanded to know.

"Besides me enjoying her suffering, you mean?" Daphne quipped and Harry rolled his eyes. "It's as I told you before," Daphne answered as she turned more serious. "The transfer of magical energy occurs only when the servant selflessly gives up part of their magical potential. Selflessly, meaning not doing so for personal magical gain."

Harry's eyes widened as he was starting to understand. "So if Hermione agreed to serve you just so she could get the magic transfer..."

"... she'd be doing so out of selfish reasons and the magic transfer would not happen," Daphne finished up for him. "It's a paradox, really."

"This... this is so messed up," Harry remarked after a while before pressing the cold whiskey glass against his forehead. After a moment, he brought it to his lips and finished the rest of it. "I think I need another drink," he then said tiredly, to which Daphne chuckled and handed him her own barely touched glass.

"There are really only two ways for me to transfer magic into her and she already categorically rejected the far more effective and humane one... rejected it twice in fact," Daphne said afterwards, gaining Harry's utmost attention.

"Which is?"

The pureblood girl smiled. "Simple – by acknowledging my superiority. Like every other muggleborn servant of House Greengrass. By serving me not out of personal magical gain but because she honestly believes I am above her and inherently worthy of her service. The transfer is strongest and most natural in that case."

"Hermione would never accept that... ever," Harry remarked and Daphne nodded, saying with displeasure, "Yes. I gave her the chance to kneel before me twice now. Since she refused to serve willingly, there is only one option left – I had to trick her into serving me with strictly non-magical methods of persuasion. Far less effective solution and much more painful for her."

Harry swallowed nervously. "So, the humiliation of forcing her to pay you off for her imprisonment and the threats of letting her starve... that was all part of the play?" he asked incredulously and Daphne nodded.

"As long as she truly believes she is not getting anything from me in return in magical sense... believes that I am exploiting her... the transfer will occur. But for it to occur in any measurable quantity, she must truly feel like I am literally wasting her life and magical potential by forcing her to serve me. In short, she must truly loath what I am making her do and not just with her mind but with her soul too. Enough so that her own magic is convinced there is a debt between us."

There was a silence for a long while before Harry finally said. "Fuck!" He stood up and started to pace across the room, mumbling angrily. "Fuck, fuck, fuck! It's just not fair!"

The blonde chuckled sadly as she meanwhile collected the empty glasses from the table and went to put them away. "Life isn't fair, Harry," she told him over her shoulder.

He smiled weakly at that. "Yeah, I heard that before," he said as he paused midstep before turning sharply in her direction. "But why didn't you just tell me all that before?!" he asked almost desperately.

Today, he almost freed Hermione because he was dismayed by her treatment at the hands of the pureblood girl. He almost betrayed his word to Daphne! He believed that he wouldn't have done that had the girl told him everything from the beginning.

"Two reasons," she answered. "Firstly I was not sure this was going to work," she told him and at his questioning look added, "This may come as surprise to you but all of this is still a little new to me."

Harry smiled at her sympathetically. Daphne was always so forceful and seemingly confident that sometimes he would forget she was the head of House Greengrass for only a month. "And the second reason?"

"I was worried you'd want to tell her everything if I told you... and ruin any chance she has in the process," Daphne answered, catching Harry by surprise. He wanted to be angry with her for withholding information for this reason. But wasn't telling Hermione everything exactly what he was hoping to do?

They talked more for some time, with Daphne recommending him to read several journals of her ancestors if he wished to learn more about the moral issues concerning the treatment of muggleborns and the mechanisms of the magic transfer. In the end, Harry felt like he needed time to think about everything he learned from her today.

He thanked her for telling him everything and was about to leave. "Not so fast, Harry..." Daphne said, stopping him in his tracks. "You still need to be punished," she said as she strode towards him, stopping right in his face.

He sighed, knowing he invited her to do so earlier but he did not think she would really insist on it. "Look, I am sorry I talked to you disrespectfully..."

"You were going to let Granger go!" Daphne suddenly told him in cold voice, interrupting his apology.

All color promptly drained from Harry's face.